If Sunday night was indeed the final curtain for the Century 21 movie theater and its sister domes on Winchester Boulevard, it was a fitting farewell. There were beach balls, cannoli, Day-Glo fedoras and even a wedding. And that was just in the audience.

Every chair in San Jose's 953-seat cathedral to celluloid was filled, and several folding chairs were brought in to accommodate some of the overflow crowd the arrived to see "Raiders of the Lost Ark," the last movie shown at the 50-year-old theater.

People wait for the Century 21 box office to open for its final day of business Sunday, March 30, 2014, in San Jose, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

Like nearly everyone there, I've got a sentimental link to the theaters, where I saw the blockbusters of my childhood, had my share of dates as an adult and, as a dad, brought my own kids to see movies on the 70-foot wide screen. I wasn't surprised to hear that fans had been waiting in line since 10 a.m. to grab the best seats for the 7 p.m. show; I once spent the night in the parking lot with hundreds of other happy lunatics before an early-morning show of the first "Star Wars" prequel.

On Sunday, the line wrapped around the building, the way it used to on a Friday night when a movie like "Titanic" or "The Dark Knight Rises" opened. And there was Bill Williams, the domes' dapper and silver-haired general manager, watching over the whole scene for the last time.

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Williams started managing the domes in 1966 for Syufy Enterprises, and except for a brief time away in the mid-1970s, he's been there ever since.

"It's been a long run," he told me as excited fans rushed in through the glass doors. "And it's been a good run."

The domes -- designed by Vincent Raney and vanguards of what became the Century theater chain -- are the last vestiges of an earlier era. Not just when seeing a movie on a huge screen was a bigger deal than having your choice of a dozen movies at a multiplex, but when midcentury modern architecture reflected America's dreams for a space-age future.

But now the future's caught up and Syufy -- which sold off the rest of the chain to Cinemark in 2006 -- has reached the end of its 50-year lease on the property. The families who own the parcel, as well as the next door Winchester Mystery House, have leased the land where the domes and the Flames Coffee Shop sit to Federal Realty.

Preservationists have a launched a campaign to save at least the Century 21, the oldest dome. More than 6,600 people have signed a petition on Change.org urging the San Jose City Council to spare the domes, and the state's historic resources commission will consider nominating the Century 21 for a listing on the National Register of Historic Places on April 22.

Shannon Guggenheim, who has been operating the Retro Dome program of classic movies at the Century 21 with her husband, Scott, told the audience that it may not make a difference.

"We met with Federal Realty, and they told us they don't have any intention of saving the dome," she said. "Even if it is declared historic and they have to save it, it won't be used as a theater."

No doubt it was that inevitability of doom that prompted so many people to come out for one last show, but the night was anything but somber. At least a half-dozen beach balls bounced around the auditorium before the movie. Lots of people came in costume as Indiana Jones, and plastic fedoras available if you didn't. Former employees arrived wearing badges from their days working the box office or concession stands. Everyone shared stories and clapped along to the original Century promos shown before the movie.

The festivities continued after the credits rolled, too, as a couple of fans exchanged vows in front of the movie screen with Shannon Guggenheim officiating an impromptu ceremony. Kirk Vartan, who owns nearby pizza joint A Slice of New York, brought over about 500 mini cannoli that the audience gobbled up on their way out.

Asked why he would make such a gesture, beyond the obvious goodwill marketing, Vartan didn't blink. "I'm from New York, and for me, this place is right up there in terms of quality and environment," he said.

Dale Tolosa, dressed in black suit and overcoat with matching fedora as the villainous Toht, traveled from Daly City to bid farewell to the theater, partly as a tribute to another classic Bay Area theater that was demolished in 2007.

"This makes up for not having a big fanfare when the Coronet was torn down in San Francisco," he said.